Bad Influences
by Joaleana
Summary: Summery Inside. Being the captain of the girl's track team, Kagome doesn't have time for anything besides school work. The day they met, he almost ran her over with his car. What happens when a good student has a run in with a bad influence? The race


Yo, Dudes.

Bad Influences: Chapter One

Prologue

Waking up in the morning was defiantly something I hated. I hated the annoying sound of the alarm clock, hated reaching for it, and hated grumbling while getting out of bed. Smells of breakfast, sounds of Souta, my little brother, sprinting down the stairs to get his daily essentials, and Grandpa's rambling about the news filled my senses. I couldn't wait for senior year to be over. No more waking up at the crack of dawn, just peaceful college days.

Grumbling, I managed to put on my school uniform and grab my things before running downstairs, grabbing some toast, and hurriedly bidding everyone a good morning and nice day before dashing out of the house and crossing the street toward the school. Monday, I hate Mondays. They were the lids on my easy-going happy weekend. Still, school is school and graduation required credits.

I don't think, I knew that day, the first day of the last year of high school, would be the day that changed my life.

Bad Influence # One: Rule Breaking

School was something most students hated. Every morning grumbling to get out of bed, walking the road that never ended to get to school. Like most high school students, Kagome Higurashi was tired of it all. Twelve years of schooling had tired her of the same routine. How she wished she could stay home that Monday, but she did have another track practice that day as well as a student council meeting and the fact that she was vice president didn't allow her the liberty of missing a session.

Signing, she continued her way down the road to school. Usually her friends would walk with her, gossiping, which was something Kagome abhorred, and laughing. However, this morning, Kagome had been fated to walk to school alone, for she often preferred to wallow in self-pity that her vacation was over on the first day of school.

Pulling her duffle bag higher on her shoulder and tucking her backpack under her arm, she waited for the light to turn green so she could cross the street. When the light didn't change, she grew agitated. There weren't even any cars in the road, so why was the light taking so long to turn green. "This has to be the longest red light in history." She huffed to herself. "C'mon! I've got places to be; I can't be late for school again!"

When the light refused to alter its color, she looked across to the road where she wanted to be. There wasn't even a car in sight, it wasn't rush hour either, so why was there a red light when there was no car to be found anywhere! Annoyed that she had to wait for a stupid traffic light, Kagome gathered her duffle bag and backpack and checked the streets again. The light was still red, and there was still no car on the road. She walked of the small step that divided the road from the sidewalk, and began to jog across the street. This was much better than waiting. Practically halfway across the intersection and the light was still red, she could've made much better time if she didn't wait for all the lights to turn green.

In a flash, everything slowed down. Her steps became slow in the pavement still she was too shocked to jog, frozen in her place in the middle of the road, the car that appeared out of nowhere swerved to the side, barley avoiding her in the process, and finally stopped on the other side of the intersection, the tires making screeching sounds as the car came to a halt. She stood there, stunned from the speedy occurrence, her heart banging against her school shirt, while her brain was switched off. Finally managing to set her mind back in motion, she turned to completely cross the street and stare at the car that had almost run her over.

The driver's door of the black, Lexus swung open while a pair of normal, walking sneakers placed themselves on the burning concrete. Kagome could see from the normal shoes that this person was not a runner. She was ready to expect a non-athlete "Free walker," as her track team called them. Walking up to apologize for being in the road at a red light, she was greeted with a curse.

"Shit!" The owner of the male voice immediately jumped from the vehicle, ran around the car in an instinctive speed to check his car's engine, which was steaming somewhat under the car's hood.

Kagome walked up to him, trying to offer him her aid, when the man turned to her. She froze for an instant, seeing his sunglasses shine over her eyes from the morning light. Right as she was about to speak, his sharp tongue beat her to it.

"What kind of crazy bitch jogs through a red light!" He ground out at her. "Do you have a freaking death wish? You almost made me lose my engine!"

Slightly taken aback by his rude remark, it took Kagome only a moment to realize what he truly said. He was right in some sense, she was breaking the rules by running across the street on a red light, but, then again, so was he, and she was no where near letting this _guy _ insult her, when his offense was worse. Clearing her throat she began " You are some jerk to be telling ME off when YOU where the one that was driving well over the speed limit, heading TOWARD a red light, where you KNOW that there a pedestrians. So, take extra care! Are you crazy for going ninety-five in a thirty-five zone! I wouldn't be surprised if they ban your license!" She retorted angrily. Here she was trying to apologize for being in the middle of the street, while some jerk tells her off when he was breaking the rules himself.

The guy huffed and removed his cap and glasses, letting the long hair underneath tumble over his bare shoulders of his red T-shirt. Removing his glasses, his eyes locked onto the girl in front of him. Being too proud to admit his sudden urge to jump this beauty, and being as fumed as he was, he would've hit on the fascinating girl IF they were under the right circumstances. But looking at the girl up close, had him calmed somewhat. Long, raven hair cascaded to her mid-back and framed her face with neat kept bangs in contrast with his un-kept ones. Though her lips were pursed in a grumpy figure, her face didn't help but exhibit some gentleness to her.

Still too angry to comment, Kagome couldn't help but stare at the breathtaking grey eyes of the man in front of her. They were dark, smoky grey that almost looked like a dark, violet color and the pupils of his eyes were slightly dilated, making a vertical, almond shape. The skin on his face looked as smooth and as soft as his obsidian black hair, which was longer than hers, down to his hips. His face held a strong jaw that showed arrogance and gave off a feeling that he didn't take anything from anyone. So infused with the man's, no, boy's looks, that she was surprised to hear his calm voice speak to her.

"Hey, sorry for almost running you over. I'm in a hurry."

Blinking, she thought she hadn't heard right, for this guy had just insulted her and then apologized. She breathed in a deep breath to distract herself from his features so she could speak.

"It's partly my fault for standing in running in a red light. Morning rush, you know. I'm sorry." She stated plainly, giving the guy a pleasant grin to prove her sincerity. He smirked and said "Hey, no problem. Need a ride?"

She took a step back from him, eyeing him cautiously.

"Sorry, I don't take rides with strangers." She stated coolly.

"I guess that's to be expected from a guy that almost run you over." He shrugged, his hands in the pockets of his torn, black jeans. "Well then, I'll be seeing ya." That being said, he opened the door and drove off in the same speed he had almost killed her by.

'Weird guy…' she thought, 'but a handsome, weird guy.'

Looking at her watch, she almost screamed and began jogging toward her school, putting her well earned, track-team athletics to use as she past as many green lights to get to the intersection of her school. She began sprinting across the street and into the building, straight into the hallways, barley saying "hello" to any of the early students and burst into the destined room, gasping for air.

The other students of the room stared at her sheepishly while one of the male students spoke. "You're late, Higurashi. What kind of Student Council Vise President is late for the Student Council's first meeting?" He said. "Well, better late then never, Tatsuya." She answered to the President and sat down next to the Treasurer.

"Bad impression on your first day as Vise President, Kagome." The girl said.

"Well, I almost got run over this morning so can you blame me, Sango?"

The girl with long straight black hair, tied high into a ponytail, shrugged before becoming serious and asking if her best friend was hurt. Kagome answered that she was fine but only before their President, Tatsuya, yelled at them for talking instead of contributing to the meeting. They sat there for a good half hour, before the official bell for class rang, speaking about how the senior year's events were to be organized. The day went as fast as it came. Kagome and her best friend, Sango, went from class to class taking notes and trying not to talk to each other about Kagome's incident that morning.

"The Lexus almost hit me. Luckily though, it went to the side before it did a half-turn and stopped in the middle of the road." Kagome explained as she sat on her desk with her lunch in her lap, explaining to Sango, who was sitting across her on her own desk, about her near-death experience that morning.

"Didn't you have the mind to step out of the way? What if you were killed! What were you doing in the middle of the road on a red light anyway?" Sango asked.

"I got tired of waiting for the light to change when there was no car in sight. Come to think of it, where had that black Lexus come from anyway. The road was empty when I started jogging across it."

" Tisk, tisk, Kagome, Ms. Vise-president, breaking the rules like that." Sango scolded shaking her head.

"Oh, be quiet. I was already running late for the early meeting."

"Tatsuya was saying how 'irresponsible' it was of you to be so late."

"Tatsuya has it in for me. Ever since I disagreed to be his girl." Kagome stated, taking a bit of her rice with her sticks in her hands. " There's no way in this life that I'd be his girlfriend. Have you seen the way he runs in gym? He's way to un-athletic for me." Kagome said, waving her chopsticks in as if she were shaking her head.

Sango sighed out of exasperation. "You know, Kagome, your expectations are way to high."

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked after swallowing a big bit of rice. Being the athlete that she was, she was used to eating her food quickly, believing it would give her energy faster.

" I mean, you keep coming up with excuses for each guy that asks you out. First there was Hojo who was 'too boring.' Then there was Yoji who was 'too perverted.' Now, it's Tatsuya who is 'too slow'." She stated. "It's no wonder you don't go out on dates."

"I DO date!" Kagome yelled defensively, making all heads turn her way from her sudden outburst. Blushing from embarrassment, Kagome hid her face behind her hands, one of which still held on to her chopsticks. " You do NOT date, Kagome. You're always to busy. It's always ' I have to study,' or 'I have track practice.' Your overachieving is keeping you from any time to yourself." Sango's voice came to Kagome's ears.

Kagome sighed behind her hands. It was true: she didn't have much time for herself. Ever since her father passed away three months earlier, she had poured herself into her school work to keep her promise of attending Tokyo University for her father, but it meant she had to sacrifice any kind of long term relationship with anyone. Although she had time to go with her friends on weekends, she barley had any time to think about dating. Even though knowing all this, Kagome was determined to go out of the school year with a bang!

The lunch bell marked the end of their free period, as Kagome and Sango sat back into their seats, waiting for their teacher to bless them with her presence. As the teacher walked in, carrying her textbook and pushing her glasses higher onto her hooked nose, another person walked into the classroom, making Kagome's heart jump into her brain. 'It's the guy that almost ran me over this morning!'

Before the teacher could introduce the person standing next to her, his eyes had scanned the room before widening at the sight of Kagome.

"You!" He started nonchalantly, pointing at Kagome. "Your that girl that almost made me total my car this morning!" He said.

"What! You almost ran me over this morning!" She responded standing from her chair in a testy manner.

"Hey, you were crossing at a red light!" He accused.

"And YOU were speeding!" She retorted.

"Quiet, both of you! Ms. Higurashi, sit down." The teacher's voice cut through their argument. Grumbling, Kagome sat back down into her chair. She could feel the other students', including Sango's, eyes on her but she didn't care. She wasn't going to take insults from anyone.

"Now that that's settled," the teacher began, eyeing Kagome in a disappointed approach, "this is a new student, Inuyasha Taisho. He will be attending this school as of tomorrow. Since you seem to know him so well, Kagome, why don't you show him around his new school?"

"What! But-" Kagome began, but her excuse would've amounted to nothing since the teacher gave her a serious glance. Sighing, Kagome rose from her seat and exited the room with Inuyasha following her, but before he could exit, Inuyasha turned to the teacher and said, "Hey, teach. Since, I'm not registered officially in the school yet, I don't have to stay here for the rest of the day do I?" The woman raised her brows at him before answering, "Yes, that's true, but don't make a habit of it." Inuyasha walked out of the room saying, "Later."

The hallways were as empty as the silence that surrounded the two of them as they walked. Kagome kept her eyes forward, still too angry to look at the guy that almost killed her that morning. He apologizes, and then insults her in front of class! What was his problem!

"Well?" Inuyasha said.

" Well, what?" Kagome answered, keeping her eyes ahead of her and avoiding his gaze.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me about this 'Fine, institution of learning?'" He answered.

"You know I though that the word 'institution' wouldn't be in your vocabulary." She insulted through her blank face.

"It isn't. Your lame principal said it."

"Typical."

He rushed to the side and stood in front of her with his hands crossed across his chest, glowering at her. "Okay, what is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem. You were the one that came into the room and started yelling at me, making ME look bad!"

He opened his mouth to talk when a rumbling sound erupted. Stumbling backwards, chuckling and scratching his head, he said, "Heh, seems I'm hungry." Kagome stared at him through widened eyes, wondering how he could go from angry to goofy in just a split second. Still to dumbstruck to say anything, she pointed to a vending machine alone the wall of the hallway, watching him as he banged against the machine when his order didn't come.

A hand placed itself on her shoulder, making her look up at Tatsuya. He winked at her. Kagome pulled his hand off from her shoulder, but he didn't let her get away, holding on to her wrist as she walked away. Sighing, Kagome turned and asked, "What do you want, Tatsuya?"

He let go of her arm and she stood there with her arms crossed and waiting for him to say what he needed to be said. " Wanna go to a movie this Saturday?" She blinked, before becoming serious again. Crossing her arms, she answered, "Sorry, I said I wouldn't be your girl. What makes you think I'll go out with you? One: I don't have time. Two: Your student council President and I am vise president. Those kinds of relationships never work out!"

She began to walk away again. This time a force jerked her backward around her waist. Turning her head to Tatsuya, who had wrapped his arms around her waist, she ordered him to let her go. He refused, saying that it was much more fun to be in a "Forbidden relationship."

"I said, 'Let GO!'" Kagome replied angrily, trying to jerk herself away, but still he wouldn't release her.

"Excuse me, but I think she said she wasn't interested."

Inuyasha stood there with a piece of pocky hanging from his mouth like a cigarette. Tatsuya glared at him through narrowed eyes. "Who asked you for your opinion?" He growled.

"No one in particular. I just want to see the rest of the school and I can't do that if the person who is supposed to show me around is caught up by some asshole, now can I? Besides, what would the teachers think if they saw their student council president like this?" Inuyasha spoke while the pocky in his mouth jumped up and down from his movements.

Growling, Tatsuya let go of Kagome but he didn't expect the burning slap that followed after he released her. "Jerk!" She pointed her finger at him, her hand still throbbing from the contact. She turned and grabbed Inuyasha's hand, leading him away from Tatsuya saying she still had half the school to show him.

As Inuyasha was being dragged away by Kagome he turned, the pocky still hanging from his mouth, and called back. "Later, 'Jerk!'"

Tatsuya stood there in the empty hallway, tasting the slight blood in his mouth. "Inuyasha huh?"

Damned entrance exams, they had kept him in the principal's office for most of the morning. After his "accident," that morning, he had to go back to the garage to make sure his car was fine, which had made him late for his meeting with the school. The principal was not happy with his first impression. 'Great. Not even my first day and already this guy hates me.' He found himself thinking after the teacher placed his tests in front of him. It took him roughly around three hours to finish the whole the test. God, how he hated studying! Then again, this was the only way his father would let him move out of the house. Damn him if he had to stay at that place with that brother of his. He didn't even know why he had to come to school this final year. He had enough credits to graduate so why did he even have to attend this final year?

"Hey! Are you even paying attention?" The girl's voice shook him from his thoughts about that morning.

"You were saying something about this school being more than fifty years old, right?" He answered. Kagome huffed and continued walking through the silver painted hallways of the school and out into the physical education field. She did thank him for helping her this morning, though she was perfectly capable of helping herself. For the rest of the afternoon, she had been trying to explain about her school, its clubs and activities, but this guy had such a short attention span! He would nod off so many times. She couldn't even tell if he was listening half the time.

"So this is the P.E. field." Inuyasha said, looking around the basketball courts and the lush green football field that stretched before.

"Yeah. We have a lot of sports team. You're welcome to join one." She looked at him to see he was staring out into the fields in an empty glance. "That is if you're not an un-athlete wimp who dozes off every time I start talking." She huffed under her breath.

"Excuse me! I'll have you know I could run circles around you if I wanted to!"

Just as she was about to answer, a girl ran up to them huffing under her breath. "Kagome, there you are! I wanted to check if we had track practice today." The girl asked.

"Yeah we do, Ayume, but after school this time. I have a meeting during free period."

The girl nodded before running off into the school to tell the other track members.

"So you're student council vise president AND captain of the girl's track team?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes."

"Wanna go for a race?"

"You want to race me? Are you kidding? I'm faster than most of the boys on the track team. You'd better back out before you hurt yourself."

"Oh, really. Let's just see about that." Inuyasha replied stubbornly, taking his hands from his jeans' pockets and folding them in front of his chest.

"You asked for it. One sprint across the one hundred yard dash, whoever gets to that point first wins." She finished, pointing toward the end of the track.

"Huh? Can you say that again?"

"We race from here," she said, "to there. Whoever gets there first wins."

They had asked a random student in gym to act as their referee. Kagome kneeled in position while Inuyasha kneeled in the lane next to her. They waited for the referee's signal. The moment the whistle went off, Kagome was off, whizzing through the air in a violent rush to get toward the winners' circle. No sooner had one step hit the ground when the next one came at the exact same speed.

Halfway through the hundred-yard dash, she began to hear a pattern of steps foreign from her own. She looked her right, only to gasp and see Inuyasha only a few feet behind her. 'No way! He can keep up with me without a problem!' her mind reeled. 'That's it! I'm not going easy on him anymore!' No sooner had she increased her speed had he begun to run faster to catch up to her. 'I can see the end!' She rushed toward the end, her heart thundering against her ribcage, and her leg muscles fighting to keep up. The moment she crossed the finish line, Inuyasha came only a few steps afterward. He collapsed on his knees, panting for air as she did the same, leaning on her knees while she puffed air into her lungs.

The referee announced Kagome as the winner before turning his attention to Inuyasha. "You've got some guts man. Racing against the head of the track team! It's a wonder how you were able to keep up!" He offered the boy a hand. Inuyasha took it and stood on his feet, gawking at the girl who had composed herself only seconds after she reached the finish line. She was no girl; she was an Amazon! No one could outrun him like she just had, not counting his older brother.

"I told you!" Kagome beamed. She was still the fastest.

"Beaten by a girl. The first person who could ever outrun me, is a girl!"

"And WHAT'S wrong with that!" Kagome snickered at him.

He didn't answer. The student who had acted as their referee went back to class shortly before Inuyasha lit a cigarette. Enraged Kagome turned to him and screamed, " Hey! There's no smoking in school! Your haven't even been here for one official day and you're already breaking the rules!"

He looked at her unaffected before answering, the cigarette freely hanging from his mouth, "You're one to talk. You were so caught up with me that you didn't realize that you missed two classes. The day is almost over now, isn't it?"

"What! IT'S your fault! Because you weren't listening, I had spent more time showing you around!" Growling, Kagome ran across the field and back into the main building, leaving a surprised Inuyasha standing in the dust, wondering where her stamina came from.

She had spent the rest of the day apologizing to her teachers for never returning to class. After making amends as best as she could, Kagome had rushed to finish her day's work before the final bell for home. Luckily with Sango's help, she managed to finish all her work, go to the student council meeting, and attend her track meet with all her work for the day and the next day finished.

"So he almost beat you?" Sango asked as she walked home with Kagome after her track meet.

"NO! I left him in the dust. I was saying he was able to keep up! No one can run as fast as I can!"

"Am I hearing things? Has Kagome finally met her match?" Sango said teasingly.

"No way! He is a selfish, arrogant, egotistical-"

"Okay, I get it!" Sango interrupted before her friend could go on. "Well anyway, I'll see you in class tomorrow. This is my intersection."

Kagome waved as her friend walked down the road toward her own home. Once the girl was out of sight, Kagome began walking toward her own home. It was two weeks ago that Inuyasha challenged her to a race and in those two weeks he had only been in school four days. It was the most interesting thing that had happened to the school faculty. His entrance exams were off the charts, but his attendance was horrible! He made the entire faculty and student council look bad! He was hardly ever around for her to talk to him, since the entire council had decided that the girl who beat him in a race could beat some sense into him. He was the center for almost every girls' affection when he was around and when he wasn't, he was the center of conversation. How did one guy go from a nobody to the school bad-boy in just four days?

"If I EVER get a hold of him-" She sighed. At some point she was actually worried about him. What happened to him? What was it about him? He always was looking to pick a fight with her, yet she couldn't get him out of her head!

Reaching her house, she was surprised to see a note on the door. Her hand reached out to gather the paper. Bringing it toward her eyes, she read aloud. "Dear Kagome, your Grandfather, Souta, and I have gone to see you're uncle in Okinawa. Since your father died he wanted to give us his share of the inheritance. We will see you in three weeks. Love you. Mom."

Kagome read over the letter three times before the gist of it rang in her head. She was home alone for three weeks. She opened the door. The house was so empty without her grandfather watching the news, Souta playing videogames, and her mother in the kitchen making rice.

She sat in the living room, eating yogurt and finishing all the extra work she had taken. One good thing about staying home alone was that she would finish a weeks' amount of work without any interruptions. She was thankful that her teachers would give her the weeks' plans so she could make time for herself, but after finishing and taking a bath, she had nothing left to do.

The sun had set and Kagome sat in the kitchen. She laid her head against the table staring at her pet cat, Buyo. "Buyo, what do you do for fun?" She asked in a bored tone. The cat licked its paws and looked at her for a moment before it looked off in another direction and ran off. She watched for a moment before the cat slipped out of the slightly ajar front door.

"Buyo, come back!" Kagome rose from her seat to chase the cat outside. Out in the courtyard of her family's shrine, Kagome could see no hide nor hair of her cat. "Oh no!" If she didn't find Buyo, Souta would be heartbroken! Racing down the street calling the cat's name over and over, Kagome asked any passerby if they had seen a fat, white cat with big, brown spots. Someone said they saw the cat a few blocks away, so she followed the direction of indication. The alley was dark, filled with the smell of trash from the corner. Holding her nose, Kagome walked into the outdoor hall, calling out for Buyo. The cat jumped onto a trash-bin, watching her from his place, a rotten piece of fish hanging from its mouth.

"So this is what you do for fun." She said as she picked up the tabby cat.

"Look what we have here. A girl and a kitty, out in an alley?" Hoping that she was hallucinating, Kagome slowly turned to see the five men standing there, blocking her way out of the alley. She gulped. Could this scenario get any worse?

They ganged up on her still the only space between them was the empty trash-bin. If only she had some running room; she would be out of there faster than a bullet being shot from its compartment.

"Buyo, sick um!" She threw the tabby cat at her attackers. Buyo clawed at the men and while they were busy with trying to keep the feline from clawing their eyes out. She saw her opening, it was as if the ocean split apart in front of her as a small space opened between two men. She jumped right through, called her cat back and began her sprint out of the alley with the feline in her arms. Almost out of the dark hallway, something hit her foot and she came in contact with the ground. 'Shoot!' She cursed in her mind.

The men caught her before she could rise to a sprint again.

"You…Bitch!" the leader said and he rose, rubbing the scratches on his face.

"You will pay for that!"

"Oh, man I'm hungry!" Inuyasha's stomach growled as he walked the streets. If it wasn't for that kid in the restaurant, he'd still have his job and free food, but there was no way he'd let some bastard manhandle a child. "Come on! I was doing a civil service, I shouldn't get fired from that! I haven't eaten in three days. I need food!"

He pulled out a cigarette, hoping it would make him loose his appetite. Walking down the dark the road he passed by an alley when a familiar voice came to his ears.

"Jerks! Let go of me!" He turned into to look in the hallway to find his schoolmate kicking some men around while a cat clawed at them.

Just as she was about to dash out of the alleyway, a member of the gang pulled her back, placing a gun under her chin. Kagome's heart jumped. A gun! There was no way she could get herself out of this! She was more scared now then she was when they put their hands up her skirt.

"Hey! You guys got a lighter?" The voice came from the exit of the alley. Kagome looked to see Inuyasha stand there, nonchalantly holding a cigarette between his fingers.

"Go home, man. We're busy." The leader said, annoyed that Inuyasha didn't seem to hear him. He was trying to light his cigarette with a match.

"I said," the man holding Kagome pointed his gun in Inuyasha's direction., "go home."

"Sure thing." Before anyone could tell what was going on, the man holding Kagome was screaming from the lit cigarette in his eye. He fell backward, still holding Kagome by the arm, as the gun hit the floor. Kagome fell to the ground with her assaulter, watching as the scene in front of her enveloped itself. Inuyasha charged at them, breaking the nose of anyone that came toward him with his fist. Two men lunged to punch him, but he ducked and knocked them into the ground by sweeping his leg under their feet. With most of the attackers on the floor, he swooped up the gun and pointed it with his right hand at the man who was still holding Kagome.

The rest of the gang members stopped in their place and watched. "No one move, or your boss losses his eyeballs." Inuyasha threatened, his finger on the trigger. The man in front of him smirked menacingly. "Yeah right, like you will really shoot me. I bet you can't even handle the gun's ricochet." Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow before firing at the wall behind them, his body not even flinching from the gun's force. "Wanna bet?" He threatened the leader with a very serious and deadly glare. The leader shuddered before saying, "What do you want?"

"I want you to let go of the girl, and get the fuck out of here!" Slowly, with the gun in Inuyasha's hand still pointing at him, the leader rose from his place, letting go of Kagome, and walked, motioning his followers out of the alley. No sooner had they left the alleyway had sirens been heard in the distance.

"OH shit! Cops! Let's get the hell outta here!" The leader ordered, but it was too late for they were already being handcuffed in their attempt to get away. While the police were busy, Inuyasha snapped the containers of the gun open and emptied it of its bullets before throwing the weapon in the trash. "Bastards! Serves 'em right." He walked over to the girl who was too shocked to stand and was shaking in her place, the feline in her arms.

"Are you…" He offered her a hand. The girl jumped from her position to wrap her arms around his waist, sobbing into shoulder. "…okay?"

"I was so scared!" She sobbed, "I thought he was going to shoot me!"

"Hey, it's fine now. It's over." He said patting, her head. He was no comforter; he didn't know what to do in this situation. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her and she seems to calm from the contact. Letting go of her, he saw her brush her tears away with her hands before she gave him a weak smile and a "thank you."

"What were doing out here at this time anyway?"

"I was looking for my brother's cat ." She said.

"Lame excuse. You should've waited till morning. Don't you know there are a lot of assholes out at night?"

She looked at the floor, mortified and forlorn. Inuyasha sighed before saying, "C'mon. I'll take you home." Inuyasha turned to escort her out of the alley, when a growling came from his abdomen.

"Guess I'm still hungry." Inuyasha grumbled.

"MAN! This is GOOD! You're a great cook, Kagome!" Inuyasha said as he slurped the noodles from the cup.

They had managed to slip away from the alley as the cops were busy with the gang members. Kagome had blushed the entire way back home. Inuyasha kept insisting he hold her hand to keep anyone from attacking her again. She kept telling him how she was very capable of going home without him holding her hand, but he refused to let go, saying that he didn't want anyone thinking that he was following her.

"It's just cup of noodle, Inuyasha. It's not THAT special." Kagome said as she watched him wolf down his food from across the table.

"Well, it's way better from the elegant crap I used to eat back home! Hey are you sure it's okay for me to eat all this?" He asked, indicating all the food Kagome had set in front of him on the table.

"Think of it as my way of saying thanks." She watched, amazed as he ate each dish within five minutes, his chopsticks never being empty from food.

"Slow down! You'll choke if you eat too fast." She warned, but he didn't seem to hear her, still stuffing his face with chopsticks every two seconds.

"Geez, how long has it been since you last ate!" She gawked at the five empty plates she had set in front of him.

"Man, I'm stuffed!" She gaped at him as he sat back in the chair. Not only had he finished five plates of food, he had at least three cups of instant noodles!

"How long has it been since you last ate?" Kagome asked again.

"I haven't eaten in three days."

"Why?"

"Well, since I moved out of the house, my old man refuses to supply me with money."

"How come?"

"Thinks it'll make me come home. Sometime I go a week without food. Rent isn't easy to pay. Where are your folks anyway?"

"They went to Okinawa to see my uncle about a will."

"A will?"

"My dad died a few months ago, and my uncle wanted to give us his inheritance."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Well," Inuyasha said as he stood from the chair, "thanks for the food."

"Wait, Inuyasha!" Kagome called him before he could leave the house. "I'll make you a deal: you come to school everyday and I'll give you food whenever you don't have money."

"What do you care about my school attendance?"

"Your lousy attendance is making ME and, the entire school look bad! Because you helped me tell off Tatsuya, he blames me for you bad attendance."

"I won't come everyday of the week! I have a job, you know!"

"Then take it part time!"

"Two days a week!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Deal! Shake on it!" Inuyasha took her hand, surprised as to how it fit perfectly in his.

"So, Ms. Vise President, I'll see you at school then."

"Oh, and one more thing!"

"What now!"

"NO SMOKING! It's a horrible habit and it's bad for you! You should quit!"

"Fine." Inuyasha walked off toward the front door when he heard the first drop of rainfall outside.

"Figures. I get to go home in a storm." He muttered as he opened the door.

"Oh, wait, Inuyasha." Kagome said before she could stop herself. He turned to give her a questioning glance. "Why…don't you stay here for the night?"

Well, there you have it. This is only my second fic and I'm still, you know, al little insecure! PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! ; Jian OUT!


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